Service Animals, Emotional Support, and Guide Dogs3235369

Sadly, some individuals are asking whether "service animal" laws are being abused by those that want to scam the device.

There have been news stories, articles, opinion pieces along with other editorials where people rant and complain about people they feel to be abusing the system. You hear some complain they had to sit near a dog at a restaurant that they don't believe is a "real" service dog, forms of languages complain that their neighbors use a pet in a "no pet" building simply because they claimed the animal is esa letter.

A number of the commentary posseses an indignant tone, and a few people are downright angry.

So how exactly does this affect those that legitimately own and employ a service animal to raised their lives? In many ways.

For one, it could it more challenging to navigate bureaucracy of the world when your claim of your disability along with your service or emotional support animal's status is questioned. If your landlord or business proprietor has heard negative stories claiming that some individuals are abusing the device, it can cause them to look suspiciously at all claimants.

Some landlord and business owners have begun seeking proof of status, although asking for written or any other evidence is not always legal, and although many owners of legitimate service animals and emotional support animals have not taken advantage of registering them, and therefore have no such documentation to produce.

It is the suspicious attitude and illegal demands of some landlords and companies that make registrations services like the Service Animal Registry of California so important legitimate owners.

Although registration is optional, it can benefit shortcut the housing rental and business access issues if the owner can create a simple document that may often fulfill the owner or landlord. Also, when working with public spaces, it is often easier to give a document having a simple sentence stating, "This is a service animal" and letting another party read the information, rather than having a long-winded protracted conversation (or even worse, argument) in public, with onlookers listening in and gathering round the discussion.

So, perform some people scam the device, or game the law? Sadly, the reply is "probably yes." In your life, there is always room for abuse and individuals can try to take advantage of many systems that individuals as a society set up to protect the rights of those who need such protection. For instance, many drivers falsely display disabled parking placards to benefit from free and convenient parking. Not to mention the number of people that lie on their tax returns, claim improper tax deductions, abuse shop return policies, or do other bad acts.

However that percentage of abuse, which in the area of service animal laws is hopefully small, is arguably a very small price to pay when compared to the higher purpose of promoting access and equality for many.

In the end, you can't control any system making it 100% abuse proof. So tolerating the few people who scam service animal laws will be the price we gladly pay to make sure that the disabled inside the great state of California have equal access under law.